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In a college town, I wonder if the law of diminishing marginal utility applies to a product like this.

Yesterday’s WSJ discussed the SETI@home project, noting that its pie-in-the-sky mission is diverting useful resources that could otherwise be used to analyze protein synthesis, help with cancer research and model the climate.

Back in my last year of high school, my friends and I created a SETI@home team called “The Vatos” — as we were fond of the quixotic notion that we could find another Wow! signal. Seven years later, about the only thing discovered is a bunch of lonely pulsars.

Nevertheless, astronomers such as Peter Backus noted, that over the past 50 years of listening and searching, only a very small portion of the sky has ever been scanned. And in his view it is improbable that given the resources currently devoted to scanning the cosmos, that these signals will be found. However I doubt that even with an exponential increase in resources that any signal will be detected.

While I do not think that SETI is a religion, I find myself in agreement with individuals like Frank Tipler, who believe that SETI projects are largely a waste of resources… because ET probably does not exist anywhere in this galaxy.

Decades old debate

Back in the 1970’s and ’80s, two astronomers - John Barrow and Frank Tipler - were shaking up the SETI landscape by suggesting that if advanced civilizations exist somewhere in the galaxy, we would already know about it.

They proposed that an advanced civilization would create and use von Neumann probes to explore the galaxy. These probes are named after the German mathematician - John von Neumann - who conjured up a contraption that could self-replicate itself entirely, from any given material. And because of its inherently robust qualities, they would be an ideal candidate for the dangers of space flight.

The basic idea that Barrow and Tipler were theorizing was that a probe would, however slowly, be launched from the Home planet, land on an asteroid, meteor, comet or even another planet and create a copy of itself from the available material. These probes could continue replicating and hopping across solar systems until they had effectively populated the galaxy. And while traversing the vast expanses of the Milky Way they would leave messenger ships behind to further explore regions or even assimilate and create “sentient” planetoids (e.g. Matrioshka Brain, Jupiter Brain).

While this sounds far fetched and something shown late at night on SciFi, the math behind it is fairly compelling.

Let us assume that humanity manages to create a self-replicating nanofactory system that can be launched safely into space. While on its way to acquire targets, ground controllers could continually update its computer systems with new designs for when it replicates itself (such as how to build a faster rocket or more capable computer). It can then proceed to land on a foreign body and begin the process of replication (the replication process could be continuously fine-tuned and optimized through either its own dynamic AI or from information sent to it via the engineers on Earth).

Off the drawing board

As of this writing, the fastest man-made object launched into space was the recent New Horizons probe to Pluto (technically speaking, Voyager 1 is moving slightly faster). It is traveling at approximately 37,700 mph. Not assuming gravity assists, here are some important numbers to keep in mind.

One light-year is 5,878,625,373,183 miles. It would take 158,881,766 hours for the craft to travel that distance, which is about 18,100 years. The Milky Way is about 100,000 light-years in diameter. So it would therefore take around 20 billion years to reach every corner of the galaxy.

While that sounds like an incredibly long time, consider this: the example above used available rocket technology today based largely on chemical reactions. If another kind of propellant or engine is used to power the probes acceleration (e.g. fusion, ion thruster, solar sails), the duration for exploration could be reduced significantly.

For instance, several days ago I discussed Project Babylon which was essentially a very large artillery piece capable of shooting several tons of cargo into space. Similarly, the Navy is working on a ballistics project called DD(X) which uses railguns to lob 40 pound projectiles into Low-Earth Orbit.

As a result, many moons from now it may be possible to use a very long and powerful railgun to launch von Neumann probes at speeds around 1-2% the speed of light. Thus, it would take only 10 million years to explore the entire galaxy. And several hundred million more to explore many others.

The Right Stuff

I mention this seemingly feasible scenario not to disprove the existence of extraterrestrial life, but to shed light on the fact that if advanced civilizations like our own existed, it would probably have visited us by now (or is on its way as we speak). [Note: I have previously criticized UFOlogy here and here. See also debunking from Space.com here and here.]

Carl Sagan and other pro-SETI astronomers had rebuttals (1 2) back when the debate was in full swing. These consisted largely of prescribing the farcical Prime Directive into the aliens’ ethical system of practice. And at that point the debate gets tied up forever, because every Tom, Dick and Harry can just as easily come up with a reason as to why a hypothetical Spock is or is not interacting with us.

For better and for worse we already launch probes into space, so if given the ability to make the probes more effective with self-replicating systems, why would we not? It would be an extremely cheap, quick and easy way to explore the surrounding solar systems without having to brave the solar elements with our frail bodies. And assuming that intelligent life arises via biological processes, would not an alien civilization be confronted with the same decision?

Perhaps SETI will find something one day, I would not invest in it though. Check out the Singularity instead.

Last month I mentioned that scientists had engineered a technique which converts the random “Brownian� movement of atoms into useable energy.

In his latest installment, Roland Piquepaille covers a fascinating way to harvest pedestrian energy. Innovative engineers are hard at work in an effort to grab the energy you create every time you walk up stairs or navigate the sidewalk and just about anything else that generates energy that is otherwise sent into the ground.

This passive method reminded me of new buildings which use “solar” windows, that not only shield occupants from the incoming sun, but also act as mini-solar collectors.

Addendum: some Scotsmen have created a system that uses solar energy from roads and driveways to heat homes and buildings.

I recently had a conversation with a friend about how companies can effectively incorporate “Web 2.0� applications and services inside their firm.  For instance, over the past year IBM employees have effectively used podcasting to save time, money and streamline long distance operations internally.  And in addition to putting a human-face on a seemingly impersonal entity, weblogs can also help foster and engender a loyal community as well as add transparency.

To take full advantage of many of the relatively free marketing and advertising benefits characteristic to public weblogs, I have previously suggested that a stereotypically impersonal organization such as Universities could benefit from maintaining a frequently updated blog.

Another technology that I have seen very little use of by firms such as airliners is RSS.  This web feed format could help travelers stay abreast of cancellations and delays as it was designed specifically for easy and broad dissemination of frequently updated data.   As a testament to its broad range of universal versatility it is also used by many news organizations such as Reuters, popular P2P applications like BitTorrent, climatologists and most notably in weblogs.

Earlier this week, News.com published a good write-up of other uses these technologies have found in the workplace.  Crafty and creative, like home chemistry sets.

Ever taken a DNA test to fill in a genealogy tree? Salon published a neat article discussing the growing industry of DNA testing and family trees.

See also: Nature vs Nurture: Using Genetics As A Cop-Out and Genes and jeans, do you own both?

I’ll admit to it: I “gamed” the original Digg system back in the day and now my IP is banned… so that I am effectively prevented from logging in at home. At least I could still receive the main syndication feed.

With the new version 3, it requires that I log into the system in order to view any syndicated story. In fact, of the six that are offered, I can only view the Technology feed. Lame.

BugMeNot has found yet another use.

See also, Markus Frind’s criticism of Digg and a Stephen Carson’s praise of Digg.

ArsTechnica has a timely write-up regarding the state of public access publishing. I mentioned the burgeoning ‘open-access‘ movement in my University article and think it deserves some more attention.

What exactly consumes the relatively high prices for maintaining a journal? What is the specific breakdown of funds? How much do the various editors, referees and publishers get paid? In other words, where does all the bling go and just as important: are these barriers artificially erected to insulate the academy from outside competition?

And while I sympathize with the “information wants to be free” crowd, perhaps in the age of instant, collaborative publishing, the entire peer-review business model should be rethought — because it is a business model and is not immune to the economic laws of scarcity (i.e. everyone involved in the review process has limited resources).

News.com has a great write-up of how “Web 2.0″ is changing communication and collaboration in corporate America. Two of the tools being used for both internal and external communication are the weblog and wiki.

If large bureaucratic companies are capable of using these services, what is preventing academia from doing so? In fact, the current double-blind system could still be used by instituting anonymous universal names for each party. For instance, an author or group of authors could post their research on a private wiki maintained by the journal’s editorial board whom in turn assign referee’s to the nameless research. Edits could be automatically tracked by the software (try Wikipedia sometime to see this feature work) and the “Talk” feature could be enabled to allow participants to discuss the issue in detail.

Anyways, that is just one of many ways of reforming the model in a reasonably inexpensive manner. With any luck these technologies will continue to allow academia to have a valuable influence in the “Real-World” and reform the image that it is merely a collusive racket that perpetuates nonsensical gobbledygook (i.e. arguments in a vacuum or in an Ivory Tower).

For the record: in the long run I think that the emergent participatory information and content management systems which are being used by sites such as Digg will, in the words of Stephen Carson, eliminate the gatekeepers entirely.

Whenever I have time to watch the World Cup I try to make sure it is tuned to Univision, the Spanish channel.

It is not because I want to practice my español, but rather, the announcers make the game sound that much more interesting.

Their excitement, enthusiasm and effervescent commentary flow within their overall vocal tone like a roller-coaster. You may have no clue what they are actually saying, but you definitely know when someone did something.

The Simpsons parodied this in “The Cartridge Family“:

TV Announcer: The Continental Soccer Association is coming to Springfield! It’s all here–fast-kicking, low scoring, and ties? You bet!
Bart: Hey, Dad, how come you’ve never taken us to see a soccer game?
Homer: I…don’t know.
TV Announcer: You’ll see all your favorite soccer stars. Like Ariaga! Ariaga II! Bariaga! Aruglia! And Pizzoza!
Homer: Oh, I never heard of those people.
TV Announcer: And they’ll all be signing autographs!
Homer: Woo-hoo!
TV Announcer: This match will determine once and for all which nation is the greatest on earth: Mexico or Portugal!

Homer: [shouting] Boring!
Krusty: Come on, you schnorers, do something!
Brockman: [calling plays from booth listlessly] Halfback passes to the center. Back to the wing. Back to the center. Center holds it. Holds it. [rolls eyes] Holds it…
Mexican Announcer: [excitedly] Halfback passes to center, back to wing, back to center, center holds it! Holds it! Holds it!

Here is the video on YouTube.

I now can totally see why Orson Wells managed to freak out people during his boisterous radio announcement of: The War of the Worlds.

Be sure to check out some of the World Cup inspired commercials, some of them are pretty funny.

You may recall seeing videos and pictures of large howitzers in action — perhaps even the Big Bertha itself. But did you know of an endeavor called Project Babylon, whose ultimate goal was to launch payloads into space via cannon?

Like usual, Damn Interesting put together a thorough write-up of this lofty supergun and of its ill-fated creator, Gerald Bull.

And after a decade long hiatus, it turns out that this out-of-this-world mentality as applied to ballistics, is finally about to leave the drawing board. Enter the DD(X) Destroyer, a new naval ship being designed to use railguns as its modus operandi.

A couple months ago Popular Science published an article discussing how it works, in essence: projectiles weighing 40 pounds will be launched/shot at Mach 7 from a deck-mounted railgun, out of the atmosphere, re-enter and destroy a target with its kinetic energy alone. And if you are interested in other militaristic applications of this technology, Military.com has some additional information on its uses.

But you want to go to space, right?

Here is the problem, while most of your body could survive the launch, you would black out and die — very quickly (in short, because of the intense forces, your heart cannot pump the blood to your brain). You see, when the railgun launches the 40 pound projectiles into space, the projectiles are subjected to 45,000 G’s.

To put this into perspective, astronauts launched from the Space Shuttle undergo around 3 G’s.

Extreme roller coasters such as ‘Stealth‘ in England subject the passengers to nearly 5 G’s.

Pilots of the forgotten X-15 rocket plane would endure 10 G’s or more for brief amounts of time and only from one direction. However, as Michael Adams found out, at 15 they can become lethal.

Assuming you were shot in a straight line and were not spinning, at 20 G’s you would begin to bleed from the ears. And accelerating at 40 G’s, you would simply die. Game over. Feel free to try and be the exception to the rule though…

On another note, constructing a supergun along the lines of Project Babylon along an equatorial region could be a viable alternative for launching satellites and other inanimate payloads. Boeing does something similar with its Sea Launch program, albeit without fancy railguns or mile-long tubes.

After 176 orbits around the sun, Harriet the Tortoise died. I’ve mentioned her colorful history before (1 2) — and how she was originally picked up by Charles Darwin during his exploits in the Galapagos islands.

Perhaps one reason for her relatively long life is through some resourceful “calorie restriction” process that is now a hot area of research.  Maybe the bowhead whale has the answer.  Do Japanese Centenarians drink the same koolaid as Harriet & Co.?

SpeedTree implemented it.  Spore arguably popularized it.

Now a new game called Infinity is taking it to the next level in a space-based MMO, with dynamically generated solar systems.

And this dynamism is not just for the virtual world either, as it is being applied to designing nuclear reactors.

See also, Selective Videos on Selection that illustrate uses of this dynamism in other industries.

Apropos Seth Godin, if your day is interupted by an unsolicited call, you may find this list of annoying and mysterious phone numbers judicious.

You may have heard of another reported NSA room within AT&T operations in Missouri. Yea, my dead sock-puppet was surprised as well.

While that claim certainly raises eyebrows, I bumped into a series of posts at Wired discussing the actual technological capabilities that these “secret” rooms had. It spins the issue in an entirely different direction (basically suggesting that the charges are being over-exaggerated/sensationalized).

Also, a friend pointed me to the “You can run, but can’t hide” category over at DefenseTech. It’s chalk full of juicy NSA/TIA info if that tickles your fancy.

A quick refresher: in terms of engineering, crowdsourcing is the use of “the masses” as a replacement for expensive research and development labs (think: MAKE geeks with garages).

Wired magazine discussed crowdsourcing last month. And a couple days ago Paul Kedrosky at Business 2.0, published an interesting article detailing the relatively low barriers to entry in the burgeoning field of basement biotechnology (from using genome sequencers and molecular blenders all in the comfort of your abode) — barriers which continually lower and can be capitalized off of through the use of crowdsourcing.

In addition, futurist Ray Kurzweil recently penned a germane column over at Scientific America that discusses the upcoming ability to reprogram and re-engineer our own DNA. Replicators anyone?

“Democide, a leading pathogen responsible for a million deaths each year.” - Doctor Recommended

Valleywag, the geek gossip weblog, chastised a number of wealthy geeks for not contributing to AIDS relief in Africa.

While I typically enjoy the jocular banter that Valleywag employs daily, in the words of Eric Cartman: I think that is bullshit.

Publicly guilting individuals into donating their own wealth to help others makes about as much sense as the self-appointed fashionistas that wear “Pro-Modesty” shirts in order to passively ridicule people that wear low-cut skirts and spaghetti string tops.

It is not only confrontational, but also hypocritical. Who are you guys to point a finger and tell someone what they should do with their wallet? Does Valleywag or its parent company donate large swaths of money to the destitute?

Furthermore, while AIDS is certainly an awful disease, why not lobby against a truly preventable epidemic: democide. Democide is the murder of people by their own government; it includes genocide, politicide and mass murder.

While not to downplay the fatalities wrought by AIDS, democide is an entirely premeditated criminal act that costs hundreds of thousands of lives each year. Yet despite the staggering statistics, there is very little outcry from international organizations that seek foreign aid provided by governmental organizations.

Perhaps it is because of Technocraticus busybodili — a government created blight that slowly infects and parasitically drains the lifeblood of its host for years upon end. In fact, it killed over 100 million people in the 20^th century alone and shows no signs of letting up.

And no, this is not some granola-crunching appeal for the UN to police the world. I just think that geeks in particular should be able to put “injustices” into a more rational perspective.

So, sop up the river you just cried and ship it to Darfur.

Note: here is the video for the South Park episode, “Jared has Aides.”

If you have ever watched Star Trek, you are no doubt familiar with the technology that instantly materializes any type of substance vis-a-vis a Santa Claus machine (also known as a nanofactory).

Today, Wired News published a neat piece on the nascent industry of growing artificial meat. Yup, test-tube meat on-demand.

See also their investigation on factory-produced diamonds as well as the future of hydroponic food factories.